Basketball: Brackets, computers, rankings

— BRACKET PROJECTIONS: ESPN.com bracketologist Joe Lunardi has Cal as a No. 7 seed in his mock bracket today. He has the Bears facing No. 10 Old Dominion in Oklahoma City (ugh), with Kansas State looming in the second round.

Lunardi has two Pac-10 teams in the field for the first time, with Arizona State as a No. 12, facing Maryland in San Jose. Washington is among the “first four out,” meanng the Huskies have some work to do.

St. Mary’s is projected as a No. 11 (facing Texas A&M in New Orleans) and is no longer on Lunardi’s “last four in” list. Does that mean the Gaels are safe even if they lose tonight to Gonzaga in the WCC tournament final? We won’t know for sure until Sunday afternoon.

Jerry Palm of CollegeRPI.com remains unimpressed with Cal. He has the Bears as a No. 12 seed playing Wisconsin in Spokane, Wash. A bit hard to figure, given that his RPI formula also has the Bears at No. 20. Palm’s other three No. 12 seeds and their RPI rankings: San Diego State (36), Memphis (46) and Seton Hall (55). Doesn’t jive.

THE POLLS: Kansas is back on top in both the AP writers top-25 and the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. Cal got two votes this week in the AP rankings, four votes from the coaches. Here’s a link to both polls.

Jeff Faraudo

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4 Comments

Notice how many so-called bracket “experts” there are? They all have different projections and all of them are full of it!!!!!!!

The only people who matter are that small group in the committee. The Bears are doing what those people like: schedule tough, especially away from home, and finish strong. Add to that another thing they pay attention to: injury to a key player in your losses. Both Theo and Jorge missed multiple games the Bears ended up losing.

Glad you noticed Jerry Palm’s snub of Cal’s record also. I think he’s crazy to put Cal in at a 12 seed and I suspect laziness and/or bias. The Bears have won 7 of 8, won their conference outright and have an RPI in the top 20. His analysis points to Cal as a “bubble” team and that is clearly wrong. I already emailed hiom and took him to task through his CBSsportsline.com profile.